Chapter 48: Better Stronger Faster
Warning Tags: Blood, gore, violence, foul language, use of weapons, graphic descriptions, and mentions of sexual assaults
They say that even the greatest of things can come to a grinding halt in a flash. And even the greatest of heroes can be taken down.
Unfortunately, the same can be said for one particular village hidden within the recesses of a valley. Known as Riverrun Village, it is one of the largest settlements to exist in all of Minecraftia, with over a hundred villagers and Minecrafters living within it. Living amongst them are the toughest and quickest fighters who will risk their lives to protect the citizens and villagers. Towering iron golems lumber back and forth around the village, on high alert for any sign of danger. Sentries perch themselves in the large watch towers at the corners of the village, eyeing the horizon ahead of them with a bow in hand. The warning of the Taint arriving had reached their village, and more security measures were in place. Every single soul living in the settlement take shelter in the large buildings or housing, those who aren't able to protect themselves are hidden well while others armed with enchanted armor or swords of iron and diamond stand inside or outside of their home. And yet, despite all the necessary requirements needed for all types of protection...even that won't be enough to defend what lies ahead for every person in the village.
Several meters from the large village, high above them and within the depths of a forest biome, several figures move amongst the shadows casted by the tall trees. Rustling can be heard from the trees as a powerful gust of cold wind blows them sideways. At the edge of the cliff leading down to the village, a fallen log provides a view of the whole settlement down below. At the log, a quad of the Sinners peek their heads up and spot their primary target down below. Nero, Jagrome, Duskables, and Deceptikipz stare with their sin essence radiating from their eyes, evil plans forming in their corrupted minds.
"Hehe...we hit the jackpot!", exclaimed Duskables in a excited tone.
"Just imagine how much Taint we can gain", hissed Jagrome as he traces the edge of his axe.
"Imagine the treasures we can steal and harvest", Nero pointed out.
"And imagine all of the sex I can have", Deceptikipz sensually said, his blue tail fin wagging side to side in excitement. The other Sinners turn their gaze over to the Mudkip in awkwardness. Quentin takes notice of everyone looking at him along with the silence.
"What?", he questioned in confusion.
"Is that all you just think about it? Getting laid?", Jagrome asked.
"Hey, I'm the Sinner of Lust. What did you expect me to be, a gentleman?", Quentin replied back, the large and sharp limbs sticking out of his arms and legs twitch in annoyance.
"Guys, focus!", Dusk stated as she looks back at the village, knowing very well what will be planned ahead for them. "DeadlyVenom told us that this village was spotted by a couple of Dead Army soldiers a while back. Once he, Cyber, and the Emotioners reach the village from the other side, he'll give the signal for us to attack. In the meantime, just stay low and don't let yourself get seen".
"Fine", Jagrome said impatiently as he sets his sight on the village, itching to throw his axe into skulls and watch the blood of his victims be leaked onto the ground.
On the other side of the valley, at another edge, several figures run through the foliage of the trees and brush. When they reach the very edge, DeadlyVenom and Cyber 2.0 emerge from the shadows and look out from the edge, spotting the large settlement below them. "Target is in sight, several meters due north. Shall I give the signal?", Cyber questioned to the one who created him.
"Go ahead. Use your optical", Deadly ordered. Cyber takes a few steps forward and lights up his red optic, shining a very bright red color. Across from them, Duskables catches sight of a very faint red object in the distance, recognizing it as Deadly's signal.
She looks at the other Sinners and says "The signal's out. Time to take what's ours". The Sinners nod their head in agreement, slowly making their way down the cliff. HellStorm, who had remained silent earlier, takes an alternative path and quietly trots through the woods. On the opposite side of the valley, Cyber's optic spots the Sinners making their way down the cliff and towards the large settlement.
"Sinners are closing in on the village", Cyber inquired.
"Then let's do the same", Deadly said, cracking his knuckles and stretching out the muscles in his neck. He, Cyber, and the other Emotioners make their way down the cliff as well, both teams coming closer and closer to the quiet village.
Within the civilization, despite no Minecrafters or villagers being present at the moment, a pair of school-aged boys play with a soccer ball near the northern side of the village. One of the boys kicks the soccer ball over to the other, who misses it and they watch as it rolls into a nearby bush.
"I'll get it!", one of the boys said cheerfully and runs over to where the ball rolled. The other waits for his friend to get the ball. The youngling gets down on his stomach and crawls into the bush, pushing away small branches of leaves. After a bit of a struggle, he spots the soccer ball. But before he can get it, a pair of neon-green eyes appear in front of him and glare down at him. The boy pulls the soccer ball close to him, but stops when he looks up and sees the eyes looking at him.
"Oh. Hi ther-", the boy only managed to get out.
The other boy watches in curiosity as his friend's body goes limp suddenly. Slowly, he walks over to him and kneels down.
"Dude?", the young boy questioned, pointing his friend in the leg. "Did you fall asleep?" There's no response from the boy, so the other assumed that he just got tired and decided to take a nap. The boy sighs happily as he grabs his friend by his legs and says "Alright, come on, buddy. We'll go back to the house and rest up for tomorrow's game".
But as the boy drags his friend out of the bush, his happiness turn to pure horror when he sees his friend's decapitated body bleeding profusely all over the ground. He lets out a short scream as he loses his grip on the body's stiff legs and backs away from it, panting heavily as he can't comprehend what he is seeing. "Oh my Notch...who-who did this?!", he questioned as tears begin to gather up in his eyes. A series of rustling suddenly erupts from the bush, and the boy looks up quickly to see Jagrome poke his head out from the leaves and branches.
"Aw, what's wrong? Did your friend die?", Jagrome asked the boy in a fake sad voice. "Don't worry. I couldn't save your ball, but I found another thing you can play with". The Bacca reaches into the bush and pulls out the boy's severed and bleeding head by his hair, his eyes and mouth stuck in a look of pure terror. The boy stares at the head in unexplainable horror, unable to scream out in fear. Instantly, he gets up and runs away from the murderous Bacca and alert for help.
"Aw...and I thought we could have been friends...", Jagrome whined, faking his heartbreak from the child running away from him. He drops the act and grins evilly before taking off on all fours after the child.
"SOMEBODY, HE-", the boy yelled out before being silenced by Jagrome as he grabs him around the neck with his razor-sharp teeth. The boy screams out in garbled agony as Jagrome shakes him side to side violently, letting showers of blood fly through the air and stain the ground with its redness. The Bacca continues to do this, shaking his victim around like a chew toy. While this is happening, several guards had heard the boy's cry for help and hurry over to where they heard it. When they get there, they are shocked to see a furry creature in a red suit killing the boy in its jaws.
Jagrome senses the presences of more humans and looks up, dropping the mangled and bloody deceased body of the child to the ground. One of the guards gags in disgust, the other growls as he wields his sword out and calls out into the air "THE VILLAGE IS UNDER ATTACK!" The yell rings out throughout the entire settlement, the fighters come out of the housing and prepare to defend their village. Jagrome grins evilly as he knows backup for him will be no problem. He wields out his battle axe and lets out a warrior cry when he lunges for one of the guards. They slam their weapons' blades together and soon, fighting in the village commences.
At the very front of the settlement, the iron golems and the diamond fighters watch as the Sinners and Emotioners run in a horizontal line towards their target. One of the fighters orders "Iron Golems! Keep them busy!"
The iron giants waste no time and run over to the oncoming targets. With they come within striking distance, Cyber lifts up one of his blasters and calls out "Ice Stream!" He unleashes a thick stream of ice towards one of the golems, freezing it into a block of ice instantly. Duskables faces against two iron golems, smirking as a plan develops into her head quickly. One of the golems swings up to smash the woman, but she expertly dodges it and makes her way onto the other golem's head. The golem lifts its arms up and tries to punch Duskables off of its comrade's head, but she jumps off and ends up punching the other golem's head right off.
The golem is startled by what it did, but is killed as well when Slashur stabs his sword hands through its forehead. Meanwhile, the rest of the Sinners and Emotioners run towards the fighters guarding the entrance to the village. DeadlyVenom dodges a sword swung at him and grabs a pair of guards by their heads and slams their heads together so hard, their skulls break and crack upon instant contact with each other's helmets. The guards begin to bleed out of their eyes, mouths, and ears, shouting out in extreme pain as they cover their bloody faces and eventually, fall to the ground and begin to die slowly. HellStorm gallops towards the settlement, gaining speed with each step that he takes. A couple of guards get ready for the animal's attack, their weapons drawn. The stallion ducks his head down and starts charging for the fighters. Seconds later, the horse headbutts all of the guards, continuing to run and smash through an entire building with the guards in front of his head. He stops and lets them all go flying on their backs, groaning in pain as HellStorm stands over his fallen victims with a smirk.
Meanwhile, hell has already broken loose in the village. Fires started by Cyber's Fire Shot attack spread from tree to tree, from house to building. Citizens try to make a break for it, but are killed by one of the Sinners and Emotioners or falling debris from the burning structures.
Slashur dashes through the fires across the ground and slashes through his victim's necks, cutting their heads right off with a clean cut. Blood stains across his bladed hands as he attacks all of the guards to rid the village of its only line of defense. When he murders one last guard, he groans slightly as a pain erupts from his sword hands. He looks down at them and watches them become even more sharper, caused by a pair of purple lines appearing at the very tips. They go across his arms and reach his body, transforming the Emotioner into his secondary form. Slash looks at his new form, the black stripes on him are slightly curved, the white outlines on his eyes are now a red color, and his clothing has changed. He only giggles manically at the new look he has, his extraordinary senses tell him a guard is coming from behind to kill him.
"Electro-Stab...", he whispers, lifting one one of his sharpen hands. An electrical current of red and blue appears on the surface. Right before the guard can stab the melon, Slashur turns and stabs the guard right in the stomach. He yells out pain when he feels the currents of electricity run through his entire body, dropping his weapon in the process. Before he can retaliate, Slash brings his entire arm up and slices the guard in half, as well as the diamond armor he was wearing. The legs give out as the rest of the sliced body falls to the ground, Slashur chuckles evilly before taking off to kill more innocent souls. The rest of the settlement is alerted by this, more fighters appear to fight back. The sentries above the village wield out their bows and aim for the Sinners and Emotioners below them.
Nero sees the sentries and deals with them. He forms an Ender Sphere in his hand and lets go, the sphere flies towards one of the watch towers and explodes, leaving a huge crumbling hole. The watch tower slowly begins to fall, the sentry has nowhere to run and screams out before it gets cut off when the tower crashes through a nearby building, setting off more fires. Nero turns to the other tower and does the same thing he did before, forming his attack in his hands and unleashes it to provide more chances for attacks by his comrades without dealing with distractions. The orb destroys the foundation the tower is built on, letting it collapse to the ground. The watch tower smashes through a house, revealing several villagers and Minecrafters once hiding inside it. They look in fear as the Tainted sorcerer slowly makes his way towards them, using his telekinesis to move any large objects away from his path.
They back away to the very corner, shouting in fear as the mage reaches the wreckage of the house, letting out heavy breaths combined with growling behind his mask. His cat-like pupils shrink when his breathing intensifies, his victims look away in fear and await their fate to be sealed by the Sinner of Envy. When he raises one of his hands to form his attack, a young male voice shouts out an exclamation.
"Daddy!"
Nero lowers his hand down and jerks his head to the side while letting out a questionable grunt.
A young boy, probably near the age of 6 or 7 years old and slightly dirty from the debris in the air, clutches a wooden sword in his hands with tears leaking out of his blood-shot eyes. He calls out repeatedly "Daddy! Daddy!"
Appearing from the gaping hole in the house is a guard, dressed in diamond armor while clutching a sword. He gasps when he sees the boy and runs over to him, ignoring the fact that there is a Sinner standing only a few feet away from him. Nero only assumed that the male was the father of the crying child. The guard kneels down and embraces his son into his arms, the child buries his head into his shoulder and starts sobbing uncontrollably. Nero watches this display happen, though he isn't so sure why he just doesn't attack everyone at that moment.
"Daddy...", the child whimpers out, eventually pulling away from his father's arms. "I don't want you to die. I don't want to live without you or Mom!"
"I know, Jake. But Daddy has to fight to protect the village...but no matter what happens to me...I'll always be here for you", the guard promised, reaching into his shirt and pulls out a necklace. He unfasten it and gives it to the boy, who accepts it and clutches it tightly against his chest. The fighter glances over to the Sinner, who is primarily focused on him and his son. The guard pulls the young boy close to him and pleads with the mage.
"Please, masked man...have mercy on everyone...have mercy on my family", the guard says before pulling his son into a hug, tears beginning to cascade down his cheeks as well. Nero stares at this display of fatherly-son affection with undivided attention. Something like this reminded Nero of an event that happened a very long time ago...an event that Enderlox showed him...which happened long before he was Tainted.
Nero shakes his head side to side quickly and jerks up in realization, his true self becoming to come clear despite the Taint that flows through his body.
"I...I..I can't...", Nero shakily spoke out, then grunts angrily again before taking off out of the house, the inhabitants inside look in shock as the mage spares them. Nero stumbles over his feet, falling to the ground and tries to get back up. Jagrome, who is busy slaying a nearby guard, notices the sorcerer fall to the ground. After retrieving his axe from his fallen victim, he runs over to Nero and kneels down, checking to see if he is hurt.
"Nero? Nero, are you alright?", Jagrome asked in concern.
Nero somberly gazes up at the Bacca and stutters out "What...What are we doing?"
"Wha...?", Jagrome said in confusion, wondering why Nero was asking this.
"What's going on here?", DeadlyVenom asked, running over to Jagrome with Cyber close behind him.
"It's Nero. I saw him stumble and fall to the ground. I asked him if he was alright, but he just asked...'What are we doing?'. I have no idea what he's talking about", Jagrome admitted, looking up at the doctor while Nero just lays on the ground, flat on his stomach and having no idea what is going on at the moment. DeadlyVenom ponders about the subject for a moment, then gets a mental idea on what's wrong with Nero.
"Hm, I remember reading about something like this. Since Nero hasn't reached his final form yet, he's experiencing withdraws from his corrupted self, a moment in time where Nero is shaken out of his evil self and returns to his non-corrupted personality due to seeing something that reminds him of his past life. It usually happens for a split second sometimes, but it looks like it's taking a while to go away for him", DeadlyVenom explained, looking down at the sorcerer.
"So, how do we fix it if it doesn't look like it's going away?", Jagrome asked in concern.
Deadly answers "Simple. We'll need to hold him down and make him see a slaughtering so cruel and so bloody that he immediately go back to his corrupted self". He turns to Cyber and nods to him, the cyborg understanding what his creator needs him to do. He walks over to Nero and forcibly stands him up, locking his arms away with his and grabs his head to make him face the house he departed from. The doctor looks over to Jagrome.
"Jagrome...you know what to do", Deadly simply told him.
Jagrome chuckles evilly as he wields out his axe. "Heh, more pride for me to absorb". Without another word, the Bacca turns and charges for the helpless victims in the house. Nero struggles to escape Cyber's grip, but the robot forces him still and the mage can only watch as the agonized screams and cries of the civilians hit against his eardrums, becoming almost a chorus of screams, Jagrome relentlessly slaughters his victims with no mercy or remorse. Nero watches as showers of blood fly through the air from the sliced limbs or bodies and land across the ground around him.
After Jagrome kills the last Minecrafter, he comes out of the house with blood speckles over his face or his suit. His axe is dripping in the blood of his killed victims, the creature can feel the essence of his pride leaking into his body. Cyber glances over to Deadly, who nods for him to release Nero. The robot lets the mage fall to the ground, Nero falls to his knees and pants heavily after what he saw. Jagrome and Cyber look down at him in concern, Deadly stares down to see if the trick actually worked. Nero pulls himself to his feet, feeling his corrupted self take full control of himself again.
"Ugh, w-what happened?", Nero asked, having no idea what just happened.
"You were going through a withdraw, Nero. You lost control of your Tainted self for a moment, but now it's back", DeadlyVenom reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder for comfort. "Luckily, we knew what to do and pulled you out of it".
"Well, thanks for helping me, guys", Nero said, taking glances at the two Sinners and the doctor.
Jagrome comments "Hey, Sinners stick together, no matter what...ugh". The Bacca collapses to his knees, feeling a strange feeling begin to erupt on his entire being.
Deadly takes a step towards the creature, but Cyber stops him by saying "Master, the Sinner of Pride is now undergoing his secondary transformation. Assistance will not be needed". The doctor steps back and they all watch on awe as Jagrome rises into the air, a red cocoon-like shadow surrounds him into its grasp and begins to change him into his secondary form. After a few seconds pass, the cocoon releases Jagrome and lest the Bacca fall back on the ground. The Bacca lifts his head up, revealing his new look to the others.
His fur is more unruly than before, his bright green eyes are dashed with dark green, red, and dark red. His attire has changed excluding the red suit, spike chains are shackled around his arms, wrists, legs, and ankles. A prideful, yet sinister razor-sharp toothed grin marked the Bacca's face. His axe had also changed, much larger in blade size. Jagrome laughs darkly before saying "This...This is what I have been waiting for".
He glances up and glares when Cyber comes into his sight. He stomps towards the robot and states to him "You. Me. Battlefield when we get back to the castle".
Without responsible, the half-human machine nods mutely to the request.
"Well, now that you've reached your secondary form, let's resume the destruction of the village", DeadlyVenom suggested, to which the others nod. The Sinners and Emotioner break apart and head off to cause more deaths and chaos to the already-falling settlement.
Throughout the fighting between the Tainted and the guards of the village, a female villager appears from a corner of the building and watches in fear as the guards begin to get pushed back by the corrupted threats. And when she turns away to try and escape the village, she gasps when she sees Deceptikipz in her sight. The Mudkip is causally leaning against the side of the building, a block of TNT held firmly in one of his hands while he gives the female a very seductive smirk.
"Hey there, sweetie. Why leave the Taint party so early? We were barely just having fun. In fact, it's time for me to have some fun", the Mudkip purred out dangerously, giving his tie a few tugs. The female villager backs away from the sea creature while shaking her head side to side before proceeding to run away from the Sinner of Lust. Quentin chuckles, placing the TNT block into his pocket while getting into a running position.
"I adore it when they run...", he thought to himself before chasing after the female. Within a few blocks and thanks to his advanced eyesight combined with his Night a Vision ability, the Sinner easily catches up to the female and pins her to the ground.
Across the settlement, near a bank vault, Slashur is busy cutting the side of the vault with his bladed hands. Behind him, Bloody and Duskables wait eagerly for the insane melon to finish the opening and steal the treasures inside. Once he finishes, the melon plants a stomp against the wall, the entire cut section of the vault slowly falls to its side, allowing the corrupted to see its contents.
Duskables is shocked when she sees the amount of gold and other precious ores gathered inside the vault.
"Wow...we're gonna be filthy rich!", Bloody exclaimed, awed by the number of iron, gold, or diamond blocks stacked on top of each other and resting on the opposite side of the vault.
"Hurry! Grab as much as you can and let's blow this popsicle stand", Dusk ordered, the Emotioners nod before rushing into the vault. Immediately, all three begin to grab and store as much of the ores as they can hold. After a couple of minutes of grabbing, the vault is completely empty, with the exception of a few ores left behind. The Emotioners take off and out of the vault, however Duskables stays behind and grins evilly. She pulls out a redstone torch and lets it fall to the quartz floor before taking off as fast as she can, the torch rolls a bit until it touches a path of redstone lined up across the floor, right next to a stack of TNT, given to Duskables from Deceptikipz.
Within moments, the bank is destroyed in a storm of explosion, fire is thrown into the air before falling back down onto the grass and buildings of the now completely ravaged village.
After the blast settles down..all goes quiet.
A overview of the entire village shows every part of the village lit on fire or destroyed by the fury of the Sinners and Emotioners. Houses and buildings collapse to the ground, losing their balance once the fire had consumed their columns. The bodies of the Iron golems lay across the ground in piece, their eyes completely dark. Along with the golems, guards sworn to protect the village at the risk of their life now lay lifeless and bloody through and out of the settlement, their weapons a few feet away from their cold, stiff hands. Those who were living in the village were massacred. Males, females, even children are all killed in the mayhem of the Tainted threats. As the remains of the large and once beautiful settlement crumble away in the fire, standing a meter away from the village are the Sinners and Emotioners, their eyes lit up by the swaying fires. They all stand in silence to watch the beauty of their chaos, knowing that they had done all of this and without getting permission from Herobrine. As they watch the burning civilization, a new figure makes his presence known by the others.
Duskables and Jagrome watch as Enderlox slowly steps in between them, giving the two grins before looking out at the village, impressed by the result of sending the Emotioners and Sinners out to have them meet together in one large village and combine their skills and abilities to cause the mess that meets his eyes.
"You all have done very well", Enderlox eventually spoke out, his sight glues on the sight of the village falling apart. "I see that some of you have reached your secondary form, which wouldn't have happened if you had kept listening to Herobrine instead of me".
"Yeah...", Jagrome said, looking down at his new look. "You know...I think I might start listening to what you have planned for us, Enderlox. I wouldn't have gotten this way if it wasn't for you".
"My pleasure", Enderlox replied with a nod. "With one village down, it's time for us to take out the surrounding settlements. Until then, let's watch this village burn to the ground". The others silently agree with the dragon hybrid and stare at the spectacle in pure, blessed silence.
